This Mama Cooks! On a Diet

Cooking with coffee: grilled espresso steaks

2010-03-10T07:41:00-07:00

Since I’m giving away bags of Peet’s Uzuri African Blend coffee this week (enter my giveaway here), I thought I’d feature some recipes that use coffee.

Coffee isn’t just for decadent desserts like Julia Child’s Chocolate Mousse and Mexican Cream, you know. You can use it to make Braised Beef in Espresso in your slow cooker or Chocolate Espresso Whole Wheat Bread.

This recipe uses it as a rub for steaks.

Grilled Espresso Steaks

Courtesy of The Beef Checkoff

Total recipe time: 35 minutes
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

4 beef tri-tip steaks, cut 1 inch thick (about 6 ounces each)
Salt
Green onions, lemon wedges, freshly grated lemon peel (optional)

Espresso rub:

2 tablespoons finely ground espresso coffee beans
1 tablespoon garlic pepper
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon ancho chili powder

Instructions:

Combine espresso rub ingredients in small bowl; press generously onto beef steaks. Discard any remaining seasoning mixture. Place steaks in glass dish. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.
Place steaks on grill and cook until done.
Carve steaks into slices. Season with salt to taste.
Garnish with green onions, lemon wedges and lemon peel, if desired

Tips:

Serve with steamed asparagus and baby potatoes. Instead of potatoes, try quinoa or whole wheat couscous.
I’m going to try this on venison steaks. (I was going to do so earlier this week, but didn’t have time to apply the rub and leave them in the refrigerator for an hour. Darn!)
Nutritional information per serving depends on the cut of meat you’re using. With venison, one ounce equals one Weight Watchers POINT

More about beef

Eat like an Olympic athlete

2010-03-08T07:36:00-07:00

Want to know what the US Olympic athletes ate during the Games? Here’s a brief video showing Alison Leach, site manager for the Whistler USA House gives us a view of the lunch that is being prepared for athletes and visitors. The food was prepared by the chef who helped create President Obama’s inaugural meal.

My friend Amber Johnson of the Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck was lucky enough to attend the Winter Olympics in Vancouver as a Microsoft Office Gold Metal Blogathlete. She had the chance to interview Terri Moreman, the associate director of food and nutrition services at the Winter Games and the manager of dining services for the U.S. Olympic Committee

Here are some of the highlights from her interview:

During the Olympics, Terri worked at the Delta Hotel near the Vancouver airport, overseeing 1,500 meals per day.
There were seven chefs in various Olympic training centers feeding the teams. They served about 6,300 meals in 21 days.
Terri fed 216 athletes per day.
There were also four chefs in West Vancouver, serving three houses. Whistler had two houses, two chefs and two dieticians.
Tyson was a sponsor and provides them with chicken, beef and pork.
They also brought 2,500 pounds of products for the athlete’s meals.
McDonald's donated 350 dozen eggs, frozen fruit for smoothies, and Canadian bacon. (Or as it’s called in Canada, “back bacon”!)
Three athletic training facilities (Colorado Springs, Lake Placid, and San Diego) serve 800,000 meals per year.
The most popular items at the Games were carbs and proteins like beef, chicken, and fish. Many of the athletes loved the Pad Thai nights, too! They also served low fat desserts as well as cakes, Jell-O, and pudding.
Terri loved that food services helped get the athletes to the winner’s podium.

Amber also reported back that many restaurants in Vancouver had “themed” nights. For example, Monday was a Polish food, Tuesday was a German food, and so on.

Gimme a coffee and a muffin: giveaways at This Mama Cooks! Reviews and a heart smart muffin recipe

2010-03-07T18:16:45-07:00

Join me for some coffee and muffins at This Mama Cooks! Reviews. I’m giving away bags of Peet’s Uzuri African Blend coffee and sample coupons of FiberOne Frozen Ready-to-Eat Muffins.

The muffin giveaway ends at midnight MT on Monday, March 8, 2010. The coffee giveaway ends midnight MT on Monday, March 15, 2010.

If homemade muffins are more your thing (and if you read my Fiber One vs. Weight Watchers muffin review, I’d have to agree with you) try this recipe from Relish magazine.

Heart-Smart Sweet Potato Muffins

Recipe by Mary Carter, The Healthy Table, March 2010

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:

Cooking spray
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup packed brown sugar
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup skim milk
2 egg whites
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 cup finely grated raw sweet potato
1/2 cup finely chopped dried pears
1 to 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375F. Coat 12 muffin cups with cooking spray.
Combine whole-wheat flour and next six ingredients (whole-wheat flour through salt) in a mixing bowl.
Combine milk, egg whites and oil in a separate bowl. Whisk well.
Make a well in the center of dry ingredients. Pour wet ingredients into the well and stir until just combined. Gently fold in sweet potato and pears.
Fill muffin cups two-thirds full. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until centers spring back when touched.

Nutritional Information:

Per muffin: 150 calories, 1.5g fat, 0mg chol., 4g protein, 32g carbs., 2g fiber, 240mg sodium.

Weight Watchers POINTS = 3

Tips:

Can’t find dried pears? Substitute other dried fruit like cranberries, cherries, apricots or prunes.
For an extra Omega 3 boost, try adding a tablespoon full of ground flaxseed or ground or whole grain Salba.

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Disclosure: All links to Amazon.com are affiliate links. A commission may be earned from a referred sale to their website.

March is Reading Month: read and cook with your kids

2010-03-05T17:18:47-07:00

When our kids are little we read stories to them almost every night. However, as they learn to read, we stop doing this shared family activity. It’s a shame since reading and discussing stories are a great way to keep the lines of communication open and active.

One way to recapture this is to plan family cooking activities around the stories your kids are reading. How do you do this? Well, sometimes the books do it for you and all you have to do is follow along and get a little creative.

For example, in many Core Knowledge based schools like the one my children attend, Little House on the Prairie is assigned reading in fourth or fifth grade. Luckily, the Little House books come with a companion cookbook, The Little House Cookbook: Frontier Foods from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Classic Stories. It’s a great reference and family activity tool since much of the Little House stories center on the gathering, hunting, growing, cooking, preserving, and eating of food.

Little House on the Prairie family activities

Discussion points:

The Little House books show how hard it was to be a pioneer. Unlike today, there were no supermarkets, no fast food restaurant, or take out. If you didn’t work hard, you didn’t eat. What were some of the ways people gathered food then? How do we get food now?
If you lived back then, what kind of things would you be doing to help your parents around the farm and house?
Could you imagine living miles away from your nearest neighbor or town without a car? How long would it take you to get to your best friend’s home on foot?

Activities:

Make one of the recipes from the The Little House Cookbook or from the list below.
Visit a pioneer museum.
Pick vegetables, fruit or berries at a farm.
Plant a garden.
Go fishing, hunting, or camping.
Cook outdoors in a park or in your back yard.
Visit a working dairy or farm.
Forage for edible plants in your area.

See how easy that is? It’s all about fitting books into your life and finding time to spend with your kids cooking and reading.

Little House on the Prairie recipes

Literary companion cookbooks for kids

Don’t stop at Little House. There are many children’s cookbooks based on fairy tales and books by authors like Dr. Suess and Roald Dahl.

Fix-it and Forget-it: slow cooker machaca beef

2010-03-04T11:50:52-07:00

This crockpot recipe is based on a New Mexican style dish by Jeanne Allen in the cookbook, FIX-IT and FORGET-IT LIGHTLY: Healthy, Low-Fat Recipes for Your Slow Cooker.

Machaca meat is used to stuff tacos, burritos, enchiladas, or is eaten by itself. I liked serving it “soupy” on brown rice. According to David Bulla at TexasCooking.com,

Machaca in its traditional form is the Mexican equivalent of beef jerky. It is basically beef that has been marinated, cooked, shredded and dried.

In Tex-Mex cuisine, an adapted version of the traditional machaca is a staple that can be served alone with tortillas and taco fixings, or as the basis for many other dishes. Many people still call it machaca, yet it also shows up on menus as shredded beef.

In my version, I decided to add a sweet potato to the mix just for the nutritional heck of it.

Slow Cooker Machaca Beef

Makes 12 servings

Ingredients:

2 lb. lean beef roast
2 small onions, sliced
1 large sweet potato, skinned and cut into cubes
4 oz. can chopped green chilis
enough beef broth to cover roast
1 1/2 tsp. dry mustard
3 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 tsp. seasoning salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 cup salsa

Directions:

Combine all ingredients except salsa in your 4-6 quart Crock-pot or slow cooker.
Cover and cook on low for 10-12 hours or until beef is tender.
Drain and reserve liquid.
Shred beef using two forks to pull it apart.
Combine beef, salsa, and enough reserved liquid to make the desired consistency.
Use this filling for burritos or tacos.

Nutritional info per serving based on using a lean beef:

Serving Size 210 g
Calories 177
Calories from Fat 48
Total Fat 5.3g
Saturated Fat 2.0g
Cholesterol 67mg
Sodium 620mg
Total Carbohydrates 5.5g
Dietary Fiber 1.3g
Sugars 2.0g
Protein 25.4g
Vitamin A 38%
Vitamin C 6%
Calcium 3%
Iron 17%

Nutrition Grade A- from CalorieCount.

Tips:

You can use venison or buffalo instead of beef.
For a low sodium seasoning salt, try NutraSalt Robusto Adobo seasoning. I received a free sample of this from the company, and have been using it in many of my Mexican dishes.

Looking to buy a slow cooker? Check out the This Mama Cooks! Open Sky Shop and my listing for a 5-quart chrome Crock-Pot.

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Disclosure: All links to Amazon.com and OpenSky are affiliate links. A commission may be earned from a referred sale to their website.

Slow cooker recipes: homemade onion soup mix and a venison shoulder roast

2010-03-01T08:08:00-07:00

Below is my basic crockpot recipe for any type of beef or venison roast, bone in or without.

The challenge has been to find a healthy substitute for French onion soup mix. Most commercial mixes contain MSG, hydrogenated oils and even wheat, which can be a concern if you cook gluten free.

Instead, I’ve found a couple of homemade substitutes. The trick is making sure that the beef bouillon you use doesn’t have MSG in it. Try your local health food store or healthy food aisle.

Slow cooker shoulder roast

The roast:

The size and weight of your roast will depend on how big your slow cooker is. For a larger roast, you should use an oval shaped 6-quart slow cooker. For smaller roasts try a 5-quart Crock-Pot.

You can use venison, beef, or buffalo in this dish. I usually use an antelope or deer shoulder roast, depending on what we have in the freezer.

1 large shoulder roast (or a couple of smaller roasts)

The vegetables:

This is where you can get creative by adding as many vegetables as you like. Here are some suggestions. Just make sure to peel (if needed) and cut them into bite sized pieces:

Potatoes
Carrots (you can use baby carrots, too)
Onions
Mushrooms
Turnips
Sweet potatoes
Celery

Oils and seasonings

1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 packet of French onion soup mix (or 5 tablespoons of homemade mix)

Liquid

Enough beef broth or water to cover

Directions:

Season the shoulder roast on all sides with salt and pepper.
Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
Brown the shoulder roast on all sides, about 10-15 minutes.
Place shoulder roast in slow cooker.
Place vegetables on top of the roast. Then sprinkle French onion soup mix over vegetable.
Fill slow cooker with enough beef broth or water to cover.
Cook for 8-10 hours on low or 4-6 on high.

To serve:

Turn off slow cooker. (Or use warm setting if your slow cooker has one.)
Remove roast from slow cooker.
Separate bone from meat. (The meat should literally fall off the bone. If it doesn’t, your roast may not be done.)
Cut roast into pieces and place back into slow cooker to keep warm until serving.

To create a thicker broth after the roast and veggies have cooked:

Add 3 tablespoon corn starch to 3 tablespoon waters. Stir until well mixed.
Turn the slow cooker on high.
Add corn starch and water mix to slow cooker after you have removed the roast (or after you have put the cut up pieces of roast back in.)
Thoroughly mix corn starch into broth, vegetables and meat and cook until thickened – about 10-15 minutes.
Turn off slow cooker before serving.

Serving tips:

My family likes to have prepared horseradish with our roast. Put a dollop of horseradish on your plate and slightly dip your meat in the horseradish. Remember that it’s strong stuff and will go straight to your sinuses if you add too much!

Weight Watchers POINTS will depend on vegetables meat used. Venison is 1 POINT per ounce.

Looking to buy a slow cooker? Check out the This Mama Cooks! Open Sky Shop and my listing for a 5-quart chrome Crock-Pot.

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Disclosure: All links to Amazon.com and OpenSky are affiliate links. A commission may be earned from a referred sale to their website.

Shop with This Mama Cooks!

2010-02-26T11:09:04-07:00

Part of the reason I blog is to share cool things with you, whether it’s a recipe, a terrific cookbook, or a favorite food item.

Well, now I’ve gone one step further and opened up my own This Mama Cooks! online shop where I’m selling all kinds of cool stuff, from cookware to healthy food products.

You can read about it here.

Healthy slow cooker fajita stew

2010-02-24T13:07:02-07:00

I’ve noticed that a lot of readers come here looking for crockpot and slow cooker recipes. Since I aim to please, I’ll be sharing a few of the ones I’ve recently made for my family.

This one is based on a recipe by Sara Puskar and
Nancy Wagner Graves that was featured in FIX-IT and FORGET-IT LIGHTLY: Healthy, Low-Fat Recipes for Your Slow Cooker.

Slow-Cooker Fajita Stew

Makes 8 servings

(Ideal slow cooker size: 3- or 4-quart)

Ingredients:

3 lbs. stew meat*
3 small onions, chopped
2 Tbsp. McCormick’s Taco Seasoning
14-oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces

Directions:

Trim excess fat from stew meat and cut into 2 inch pieces.
Combine with onion in slow cooker.
Mix together taco seasoning and undrained tomatoes. Pour over beef.
Place cut-up peppers on top.
Cover. Cook on low 6-8 hours or until beef is tender.

Nutritional information per serving for top round steak:

320 calories
7g fat
85mg cholesterol
330 mg sodium
31g total carbohydrate
2g fiber
3g protein

Weight Watchers POINTS depend on the type of meat used. All other ingredients are “free.”

Tips:

*Boneless beef top round steak is good. I used venison. You could try buffalo or even a pork loin roast.
Serve with corn tortillas, salsa, cilantro and avocado slices.
You can also make a fajita bowl by serving the stew over brown rice or cooked quinoa.

Looking to buy a slow cooker? Check out the This Mama Cooks! Open Sky Shop and my listing for a 5-quart chrome Crock-Pot.

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Disclosure: All links to Amazon.com and OpenSky are affiliate links. A commission may be earned from a referred sale to their website.

Quick Shrimp and Corn Soup from Holly Clegg's Trim & TERRIFIC Gulf Coast Favorites

2010-02-22T11:02:16-07:00

Today’s guest post is from cookbook author, Holly Clegg. Holly will be sending me recipes from time to time to feature here at This Mama Cooks! I’m thrilled to be working with her!

This recipe comes from Holly’s cookbook Holly Clegg's Trim & TERRIFIC Gulf Coast Favorites.

Quick Shrimp and Corn Soup

Busy and no time to cook? Here’s a meal in minutes, an easy throw together soup, while the weather is still cool. Everyone has a shrimp and corn soup recipe, but this recipe is only 6 ingredients and it is TRIM & TERRIFIC!! Just open cans of corn and tomatoes, toss in shrimp for this simple yet superb soup.

Makes 12 (1-cup) servings

Ingredients:

2 (15 1/2-ounce) cans cream-style corn
2 cups frozen corn
2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans diced tomatoes and green chilies
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
2 pounds medium peeled shrimp
1 bunch green onions, chopped

Directions:

In large nonstick pot, combine cream-style corn, corn, tomatoes and green chilies, tomato sauce, until heated.
Add shrimp, bring to boil. Lower heat, cook until shrimp is done, 5–7 minutes. Sprinkle with green onions, serve.

Nutritional information per serving:

Calories 162, Calories from fat (%) 8, Fat (g) 1, Saturated Fat (g) 0, Cholesterol (mg) 112, Sodium (mg) 825, Carbohydrate (g) 24, Dietary Fiber (g) 3, Sugars (g) 6, Protein (g) 15, Diabetic Exchanges: 1 1/2 starch, 1 1/2 very lean meat

You can check Holly out at The Healthy Cooking Blog, her website HollyClegg.com, on Twitter @HollyClegg , Facebook, and her webisodes at Walmart.

Weight Watchers POINTS = 3 per serving

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Disclosure: All links to Amazon.com are affiliate links. A commission may be earned from a referred sale to their website.

Happy Pancake Day! It's Shrove Tuesday at This Mama Cooks!

2010-02-16T11:35:20-07:00

I feel like Mardi Gras has been going on since the Saints won the Super Bowl, don’t you?

Since today is Pancake Day (also know as Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras) here are a few pancake recipes I’ve featured over the years at This Mama Cooks!

Stephanie Izard's Oatmeal Pancake Recipe
Weight Watchers Sweet Potato Pancakes
High Protein Yogurt Pancakes
Flat Belly Diet Banana Pancakes with Walnut Honey
Crepes, Waffles & Pancakes’ Wild Rice Pancakes with Chicken (savory pancakes)
No Flour, No Sugar Crepes (flour and sugar free)
No Yolking Around Pancakes (egg free)
Celebrating Pancake Day with a pancake video

To celebrate Pancake Tuesday, I’m also giving away free sample coupons of Organic Batter Blaster at This Mama Cooks! Reviews. Stop by, read my review and enter!

This Mama Cooks! On a Diet

Cooking with coffee: grilled espresso steaks

Grilled Espresso Steaks

More about beef

Eat like an Olympic athlete

Gimme a coffee and a muffin: giveaways at This Mama Cooks! Reviews and a heart smart muffin recipe

Heart-Smart Sweet Potato Muffins

March is Reading Month: read and cook with your kids

Little House on the Prairie family activities

Little House on the Prairie recipes

Literary companion cookbooks for kids

More March is Reading Month Resources

Fix-it and Forget-it: slow cooker machaca beef

Slow Cooker Machaca Beef

Slow cooker recipes: homemade onion soup mix and a venison shoulder roast

Slow cooker shoulder roast

Shop with This Mama Cooks!

Healthy slow cooker fajita stew

Slow-Cooker Fajita Stew

Quick Shrimp and Corn Soup from Holly Clegg's Trim & TERRIFIC Gulf Coast Favorites

Quick Shrimp and Corn Soup

Happy Pancake Day! It's Shrove Tuesday at This Mama Cooks!